When Mike Gillis took over the Vancouver Canucks he promised to change the culture of the team and set about laying the groundwork for a team which has blazed a trail through the National Hockey League in the 2010-11 season.

Gillis signed Mats Sundin, Pavol Demitra and brought in guys like Steve Bernier all in the hopes of bringing more speed and finesse to the table. Yet, maybe his best signing is one that went completely under the radar. In the summer of 2009 Gillis inked forward Tanner Glass to a free agent deal. Even in hockey mad Vancouver this siging was barely mentioned and was viewed more as a depth pickup for Manitoba and indeed that was the intention, but the the former cast off of the Florida Panthers has proven to be so much more.

Drafted 265th overall by the Panthers in 2003, Glass was considered an afterthought even then. Having spent some time in the BCHL and then attending Dartmouth College, Glass was viewed as a consistent and steady forward who wasnt afraid to mix it up when needed. Florida were impressed enough to give him a shot in 2007-08 with a 41 game stint, and though he showed a knack for never backing down, he got lost in the shuffle of the revolving door in Florida.

Vancouver signaled a new start and if rumours are true, they were the only team who contacted him in the summer of 2009. He has his work cut out for him to prove that he belonged. Glass has done more than just belong, he was lead.

The Canucks have been on an amazing run this season, showcasing possibly the best team they have ever had in their 40 year existence and though they sport a ton of depth at almost every position, the fourth line this year has been somewhat of an enigma. They have gone through Rick Rypien, Jonas Anderson, Mario Bliznak, Peter Schaefer, Guillame Desbiens, Aaron Volpatti and even Jeff Tambellini took a turn on the fourth line, but Glass has been the one constant, playing in all 39 games thus far and proving to management that his signing was no mistake.

Glass has balanced out the line and allowed for the Canucks fourth unit to take a regular turn, somethign which wasnt happening early in the year. Though only netting three goals, Glass has shown more of an offensive prowess this season, getting to the net more and even joining the rush. He is not afraid to do the dirty work, the whole reason he got this far in the first place.

Physical play was considered the Canucks weak point but Glass has even put that notion to rest with his impressive display of fisticuffs and hard hits. He is proving to be tough for opponents to play against, and thats just the type of guy you want on your team.

Glass has proven this season what his true worth is. He not flashy and will never be a power forward type, but he is surely up for the Canucks end of season Unsung Hero award as his brand of play has caught the attention of many in this city right from the day he surprised everyone (including management) and made the opening night roster of last seasons team.

Re-signing Glass at season end should be a no brainer though he will surely command a raise, but one thing is certain, if he goes to free agency this summer rest assured there will be more than just one suitor for his services this time around.

It is not everyday that a player with as much offensive talent as Ilya Kovalchuk hits the open market, free to be pursued by 30 NHL teams for a shot to have him play in their city.

Unfortunately, it is slowly becoming Mats Sundin v2.0.

Let’s take a walk through time:

The trade deadline was looming and the Atlanta Thrashers had a very difficult decision to make.  Throw the farm at face of the franchise Ilya Kovalchuk in hopes of him agreeing to sign a life long deal to stay with the team, or acquire the best possible package to help the team in moving forward.

Then GM Don Waddell attempted the former and settled for the latter.

Ilya Kovalchuk, after turning down an absurd amount of money thrown at him by the organization who drafted him, was shipped to New Jersey to help them in their quest for another Stanley Cup.

Unfortunately for the Devils, that quest was over before it started.  However, what they did not expect was further drama from the acquisition. Feeling as though they were an organization strong enough to capture another Cup within the time window known as Martin Brodeur, Lou Lamiorello figured it would be easy to keep the superstar in Newark, NJ.

But wait.

At that time, wasn’t it all but confirmed that once the season came to an end Kovalchuk would be packing his bags and taking his family to the lovely left coast of this fine continent known as North America?  No, not Calgary, Colorado or Vancouver, not San Jose or Anaheim, but Los Angeles?

It was assumed that Dean Lombardi did not want to throw away pieces to his future for a quick fix and that it would be easier to instead, throw a boat load of money in said players direction.

As of today, Kovalchuk remains unsigned to any team, whether that be within the NHL, KHL, or some unthinkable league on a different planet.

For Don Waddell, who has since been replaced as the GM in Atlanta by Rick Dudley, the return was glorious for in theory, Ilya Kovalchuk helped the Thrashers acquire Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, Akim Aliu, Andrew Laad, Ben Eager and Brent Sopel.

And since we are in the free agent frenzy part of the season, the Thrashers have seen two contributors from last season depart in Maxim Afinogenov and Pavel Kubina.

To be quite honest, this writer would take the entire package of players over the two that have walked; leaving Kovalchuk out of this altogether.

So where do we stand?

It’s been a seesaw week within the NHL as reporters, agents, players and fans have all been engulfed in the Kovalchuk drama.  Many GMs who have potential trades or other free agent signings in mind are waiting for the dominoes to fall prior to finalizing anything that is currently pending.

Now, what has been a reason of displeasure is that fact that Kovalchuk stated when the time arrived he would want to play for a potential Stanley Cup contending organization.

Well, if that was the truth why have we been left in the dark?  Why is it taking so long for Kovalchuk to put pen to paper and officially announce his future plans.

So now that we have played catch-up, let’s move into the beginning of this week.

Rumors have circulated like wild fire on destinations that include the Atlanta Thrashers, the New Jersey Devils, the Los Angeles Kings, the New York Islanders and even the New York Rangers as well as Russia’s KHL.

The best was the “report” of Islanders GM offering a 10 year $10 million deal to Kovalchuk, which has since been deemed false. Unfortunately for the Islanders, for a player of this caliber would have truly turned the franchise in a different direction, likely erasing most of the turmoil surrounding them.

Do you feel as if your eyes are playing tricks on you?

On Monday, Kovalchuk’s agent, Jay Grossman, tweeted that a decision could be made by the end of the day. As of today, after the Kings had supposedly backed out, there has been no decision and Dean Lombardi has gone public to state that the Kings were back in the thick of it.

This has turned into the saga of a superstar that is not needed with all the other turmoil surrounding the NHL.

Here is hoping that, no matter where he winds up, there is pen to paper before this week is up. And for what it’s worth, I truly hope Mr. Grossman has been able to sleep properly because with all that has gone on, his phone has to be ringing off the hook day and night.

Anthony Curatolo
NHLHS New York Islanders Correspondent/NHL Writer
acuratolo@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @HockeyGuy_AC

The Toronto Maple Leafs unveiled a new look Jersey and with it, a new Captain.  Dion Phaneuf, acquired in a January 31^st trade that saw 7 players change teams, is the ^18th Captain in the long and storied history of the Maple Leafs franchise.

The announcement this afternoon ended the 2^nd longest captain-less period for the Leafs.  Phaneuf joins a list of the greatest Leafs to wear the “C” a list that includes names such as Hap Day, Ted Kennedy, George Armstrong, Darryl Sittler, Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour and Mats Sundin.

With 3 former Captains: Armstrong, Sittler and Clark at his side, and 3 current teammates: Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak and Luke Schenn sitting front row, Phaneuf proudly put on his new #3 “C” Leafs jersey.  “It’s a tremendous honour…means a lot to me” was his immediate response to being named the new captain.  “I just want to be myself and lead on and off the ice…we have to learn and get better as a team” sounds like a captain in my books.

GM Brian Burke opened the conference by saying “He’s the guy I would have begged Wilson to pick” while also stating that Phaneuf is the type of leader that the team has been waiting for since Sundin left.

“Dion represents everything we want a Leaf player to be, he plays with passion” was how Coach Ron Wilson introduced the new captain to the media.

Leaf great Wendel Clark had these words of wisdom for Phaneuf “Just be yourself and have fun with it, things can be tough when its bad, but when they’re good, there is no better place to be captain.”

Phaneuf’s time with the Calgary Flames ended amid reports that he was at the center of some dressing room issues, which led to his subsequent trade to Toronto.  While several former Calgary teammates have stood up for him, Craig Conroy said “I think Dion is a great player and a good guy, I didn’t have a problem with Dion” others took backhanded shots at him. “Maybe things weren’t working out here, or guys were plateauing, there were changes made. The feeling around our dressing room was better after that, no one was having any fun” according to Robyn Regehr.

His teammates and coaches in Toronto have nothing but praise and respect for him, “We would have to make a mega-deal to bring the greatest captain of all time in order to not name Dion the captain” Head Coach Ron Wilson said in an interview.   Christian Hanson, Phaneuf’s stall mate had this to say “You just look at how the team’s been doing since he got here. The energy’s really picked up” and “He comes in and he’s just always talking, always getting the guys going. I definitely think it rubs off.”  Doesn’t sound like the bad apple Calgary made him out to be, but again, give it time and who knows what his new teammates and coaches will be saying about him.

While his offensive numbers are not what they used to be, just 32 points in 81 games in ’09-’10 his lowest total since joining the league in ’05-’06, he has brought a steadying force to the Leafs defence corps.  Under the mentoring of Jean-Sebastian Giguere, and an improved defence, Jonas Gustavsson finished the season by going 7-3-1 with a 2.48 GAA and a .910 SV% compared to the 9-12-8 record with a 3.03 GAA and .899 SV% he had prior to the trades.

Much of that can be attributed to Phaneuf’s presence.  Combine that with the improvement to the Leafs Penalty Kill due to the additions of Phaneuf and Fredik Sjostrom, finishing the season on a run that would have put them in the top-10 had it been achieved all season long, and you can begin to see the positive impact Phaneuf has had on this Leafs team.

It comes as little surprise to me, that the Leafs brain trust of GM Brian Burke and Head Coach Ron Wilson, feel comfortable with Phaneuf’s performance and demeanour to stick the “C” on his freshly designed, new Leafs jersey.  However, only time will tell if Phaneuf can live up to the short list of great Leafs captains, and dispel any rumours that he was a cancer in the Flames dressing room, or just be another case of talent wasted in a blue-and-white uniform.

I’m hoping it all works out and he leads the once proud franchise out of the basement of the NHL and back amongst the elite where they belong.

Based on Matthew Pouliot’s series on Circling the Bases, I have decided restore the rosters for every NHL team. Like Pouliot, I have established some ground rules for my selections.

1. Each team contains players they originally drafted or signed before any other NHL team. This includes players drafted and not signed, as well as European free agents coming over at an older age.
2. I have chosen to leave retired players off the list, and lean toward players in the AHL rather than those deported (KHL, SEL, DEL, etc.).

Essentially I am choosing the best available players for a team to succeed in the current NHL season. All 30 teams will be covered, with grades assigned to forwards, defense and goaltending. After all 30 articles are written, they will be ranked in order. This series’ intent is to reward or shame NHL scouts.

This team is setup pretty well moving forward, with 13 current players on the roster home grown. The core of the team is still young and if they can hold onto them moving forward, lookout for 2009-2010 to become the norm instead of the exception when it comes to Colorado’s place atop the standings. Can Wolski, Stastny and Duchene develop into the superstar NHL’ers that other Avalanche/Nordiques draft picks (such as Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin and Owen Nolan) have? Only time will tell. But it looks like it’ll be a fun ride 

Forwards:

A good mix of youth and experience. The core top 6 forwards have an average of 4 years experience in the NHL. Still learning the game and continuing to improve their play can only be good for this young Colorado team.

Wojtek Wolski – Paul Stastny – Chris Stewart

Alex Tanguay – Matt Duchene-Milan Hejduk

Ryan O’Reilly – Chris Drury – Radim Vrbata

Sammy Pahlsson – Owen Nolan – Brandon Yip

Bench – Marek Svatos – Wade Belak

While the bottom 6 forwards have an average of 6 years exp in the league, it’s a mix of old (Nolan 1167 games) and young (Yip 10 games) by no means making the bottom 6 grey beards in the league. Being more established and set in their ways, the bottom 6 are solid at their roles. With Yip and O’Reilly ready to jump up to the top 6 and switch spots with Tanguay and Hejduk in the coming seasons. All in all, a pretty good setup for the forward unit, with current players already in place to ascend the ranks when called upon.

Grade: B+

Defence:

Based on all six starting D being in the top four of their respective teams, and the top four of this team being the top pair on their respective teams, this crop of D earns a solid A.

Adam Foote – Kyle Cumiskey

Robyn Regehr – Tom Gilbert

Jean-Michael Liles – Jeff Finger

Bench – Martin Skoula

You could mix up the top 4 to make any pairings you want, but I decided to keep Colorado’s top pair of Foote and Cumiskey together. Foote’s experience and rock solid dependability will allow Cumiskey to continue to find his game while not having to worry about growing pains. Regehr and Gilbert, both solid top pair on their teams, make a very formidable 2^nd pair on this team. Regehr’s defensive responsibility allows Gilbert a little more freedom to contribute offensively.

Grade: A

Goaltenders:

Tim Thomas

Peter Budaj

Tyler Weiman

What can you say about US Olympic Goalie Tim Thomas that hasn’t already been said? Not a personal fan of his style, or lack thereof to be specific. He’s more of a reaction goalie a la Dominik Hasek or Curtis Joseph, but he’s made it work for him and that showed with a Vezina Trophy last season. He’s a solid #1 on any team, and it’s taken a Herculean effort by Miller to have Thomas sit on the bench in the coming Olympics. Budaj has shown flashes of brilliance in his time with Colorado, but hasn’t been able to make the jump to a bonafide #1 just yet. Having the best numbers of his career in his limited role this season, could this have been his year if it weren’t for the stellar play of Anderson? Still, a formidable 1-2 punch if I’ve seen one, especially with this D corps in front of them.

Grade: A-

Jose Simoes
NHLHS Contributor
jsimoes@nhlhotstove.com